scholarly journals A Theory for Bjerknes Compensation: The Role of Climate Feedback

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengyu Liu ◽  
Haijun Yang ◽  
Chengfei He ◽  
Yingying Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Temperature Gradient ◽  
Spatial Variation ◽  
Heat Transport ◽  
Positive Feedback ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Temperature Response ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Climate Feedback ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Local Climate

Abstract The response of the atmospheric energy (heat) transport (AHT) to a perturbation oceanic heat transport (OHT) is studied theoretically in a zonal mean energy balance model, with the focus on the effect of climate feedback, especially its spatial variation, on Bjerknes compensation (BJC). It is found that the BJC depends critically on climate feedback. For a stable climate, in which negative climate feedback is dominant, the AHT always compensates the OHT in the opposite direction. Furthermore, if local climate feedback is negative everywhere, the AHT will be weaker than the OHT (undercompensation) because of the damping on the surface oceanic heating through the top-of-atmosphere energy loss. One novel finding is that the compensation magnitude depends on the spatial scale of the forcing and is bounded between a minimum at the global scale and a maximum (of perfect compensation) at small scales. Most interestingly, the BJC is affected significantly by the spatial variation of the feedback, particularly a local positive climate feedback. As such, a regional positive feedback can lead to a compensating AHT greater than the perturbation OHT (overcompensation). This occurs because the positive feedback enhances the local temperature response, the anomalous temperature gradient, and, in turn, the AHT. Finally, the poleward latent heat transport leads to a temperature response with a polar amplification accompanied by a polar steepening of temperature gradient but does not change the BJC significantly. Potential applications of this BJC theory to more complex climate model studies are also discussed.

scholarly journals Spatial Patterns of Modeled Climate Feedback and Contributions to Temperature Response and Polar Amplification

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (14) ◽  
pp. 3575-3592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia A. Crook ◽  
Piers M. Forster ◽  
Nicola Stuber
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transport ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Temperature Response ◽  
Equilibrium Temperature ◽  
Lapse Rate ◽  
Climate Feedback ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Polar Amplification ◽  
Forcing Mechanisms ◽  
High Level

Abstract Spatial patterns of local climate feedback and equilibrium partial temperature responses are produced from eight general circulation models with slab oceans forced by doubling carbon dioxide (CO2). The analysis is extended to other forcing mechanisms with the Met Office Hadley Centre slab ocean climate model version 3 (HadSM3). In agreement with previous studies, the greatest intermodel differences are in the tropical cloud feedbacks. However, the greatest intermodel spread in the equilibrium temperature response comes from the water vapor plus lapse rate feedback, not clouds, disagreeing with a previous study. Although the surface albedo feedback contributes most in the annual mean to the greater warming of high latitudes, compared to the tropics (polar amplification), its effect is significantly ameliorated by shortwave cloud feedback. In different seasons the relative importance of the contributions varies considerably, with longwave cloudy-sky feedback and horizontal heat transport plus ocean heat release playing a major role during winter and autumn when polar amplification is greatest. The greatest intermodel spread in annual mean polar amplification is due to variations in horizontal heat transport and shortwave cloud feedback. Spatial patterns of local climate feedback for HadSM3 forced with 2 × CO2, +2% solar, low-level scattering aerosol and high-level absorbing aerosol are more similar than those for different models forced with 2 × CO2. However, the equilibrium temperature response to high-level absorbing aerosol shows considerably enhanced polar amplification compared to the other forcing mechanisms, largely due to differences in horizontal heat transport and water vapor plus lapse rate feedback, with the forcing itself acting to reduce amplification. Such variations in high-latitude response between models and forcing mechanisms make it difficult to infer specific causes of recent Arctic temperature change.

scholarly journals The effect of a dynamic soil scheme on the climate of the mid-Holocene and the Last Glacial Maximum

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Stärz ◽  
G. Lohmann ◽  
G. Knorr
Keyword(s):  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Positive Feedback ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Soil Characteristics ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Primary Control ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. In order to account for coupled climate–soil processes, we have developed a soil scheme which is asynchronously coupled to a comprehensive climate model with dynamic vegetation. This scheme considers vegetation as the primary control of changes in physical soil characteristics. We test the scheme for a warmer (mid-Holocene) and colder (Last Glacial Maximum) climate relative to the preindustrial climate. We find that the computed changes in physical soil characteristics lead to significant amplification of global climate anomalies, representing a positive feedback. The inclusion of the soil feedback yields an extra surface warming of 0.24 °C for the mid-Holocene and an additional global cooling of 1.07 °C for the Last Glacial Maximum. Transition zones such as desert–savannah and taiga–tundra exhibit a pronounced response in the model version with dynamic soil properties. Energy balance model analyses reveal that our soil scheme amplifies the temperature anomalies in the mid-to-high northern latitudes via changes in the planetary albedo and the effective longwave emissivity. As a result of the modified soil treatment and the positive feedback to climate, part of the underestimated mid-Holocene temperature response to orbital forcing can be reconciled in the model.

A Decomposition of Feedback Contributions to Polar Warming Amplification

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (18) ◽  
pp. 7023-7043 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick C. Taylor ◽  
Ming Cai ◽  
Aixue Hu ◽  
Jerry Meehl ◽  
Warren Washington ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transport ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Temperature Response ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Climate Feedback ◽  
Response Analysis ◽  
Ocean Heat Transport ◽  
Climate System Model ◽  
Downward Longwave Radiation

Abstract Polar surface temperatures are expected to warm 2–3 times faster than the global-mean surface temperature: a phenomenon referred to as polar warming amplification. Therefore, understanding the individual process contributions to the polar warming is critical to understanding global climate sensitivity. The Coupled Feedback Response Analysis Method (CFRAM) is applied to decompose the annual- and zonal-mean vertical temperature response within a transient 1% yr−1 CO2 increase simulation of the NCAR Community Climate System Model, version 4 (CCSM4), into individual radiative and nonradiative climate feedback process contributions. The total transient annual-mean polar warming amplification (amplification factor) at the time of CO2 doubling is +2.12 (2.3) and +0.94 K (1.6) in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, respectively. Surface albedo feedback is the largest contributor to the annual-mean polar warming amplification accounting for +1.82 and +1.04 K in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, respectively. Net cloud feedback is found to be the second largest contributor to polar warming amplification (about +0.38 K in both hemispheres) and is driven by the enhanced downward longwave radiation to the surface resulting from increases in low polar water cloud. The external forcing and atmospheric dynamic transport also contribute positively to polar warming amplification: +0.29 and +0.32 K, respectively. Water vapor feedback contributes negatively to polar warming amplification because its induced surface warming is stronger in low latitudes. Ocean heat transport storage and surface turbulent flux feedbacks also contribute negatively to polar warming amplification. Ocean heat transport and storage terms play an important role in reducing the warming over the Southern Ocean and Northern Atlantic Ocean.

scholarly journals Impacts of Oceanic and Atmospheric Heat Transports on Sea Ice Extent

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (16) ◽  
pp. 7197-7215
Author(s):  
Jake Aylmer ◽  
David Ferreira ◽  
Daniel Feltham
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Heat Transport ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Sea Ice Extent ◽  
Transport Component ◽  
Atmospheric Heat Transport ◽  
Ice Edge ◽  
Atmospheric Heat ◽  
The Impact

AbstractClimate-model biases in ocean heat transport (OHT) have been proposed as a major contributor to uncertainties in projections of sea ice extent. To better understand the impact of OHT on sea ice extent and compare it to that of atmospheric heat transport (AHT), an idealized, zonally averaged energy balance model (EBM) is developed. This is distinguished from previous EBM work by coupling a diffusive mixed layer OHT and a prescribed OHT contribution, with an atmospheric EBM and a reduced-complexity sea ice model. The ice-edge latitude is roughly linearly related to the convergence of each heat transport component, with different sensitivities depending on whether the ice cover is perennial or seasonal. In both regimes, Bjerknes compensation (BC) occurs such that the response of AHT partially offsets the impact of changing OHT. As a result, the effective sensitivity of ice-edge retreat to increasing OHT is only ~2/3 of the actual sensitivity (i.e., eliminating the BC effect). In the perennial regime, the sensitivity of the ice edge to OHT is about twice that to AHT, while in the seasonal regime they are similar. The ratio of sensitivities is, to leading order, determined by atmospheric longwave feedback parameters in the perennial regime. Here, there is no parameter range in which the ice edge is more sensitive to AHT than OHT.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the absolute regional temperature potential

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 13813-13825 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. T. Shindell
Keyword(s):  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Temperature Response ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Temperature Potential ◽  
Regional Temperature ◽  
The Absolute

Abstract. The Absolute Regional Temperature Potential (ARTP) is one of the few climate metrics that provides estimates of impacts at a sub-global scale. The ARTP gives the time-dependent temperature response in four latitude bands (90–28° S, 28° S–28° N, 28–60° N and 60–90° N) as a function of the regional forcing imposed in those bands. It is based on a large set of simulations performed with a single atmosphere-ocean climate model. Here I evaluate ARTP estimates of regional temperature responses due to historic aerosol forcing in three independent climate models and show that the ARTP metric provides results in good accord with the actual responses in those models. Nearly all ARTP estimates fall within ±20% of the actual responses, and in particular for the tropics and the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes this range appears to be roughly consistent with the 95% confidence interval. Land areas within these two bands respond 41 ± 6% and 19 ± 28% more than the latitude band as a whole. The ARTP, presented here in a slightly revised form, thus appears to provide a relatively robust estimate for the responses of large-scale latitude bands and land areas within those bands to inhomogeneous radiative forcing.

scholarly journals Exploring the Climatic Response to Wide Variations in Ocean Heat Transport on an Aquaplanet

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (16) ◽  
pp. 6299-6318 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Cameron Rencurrel ◽  
Brian E. J. Rose
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transport ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Hadley Circulation ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Ocean Heat Transport ◽  
Climatic Impact ◽  
Ocean Heat Uptake ◽  
Boundary Layer Clouds ◽  
Radiative Processes ◽  
The Tropics

The climatic impact of ocean heat transport (OHT) is studied in a series of idealized aquaplanet climate model experiments. OHT is prescribed through a simple geometrical formula spanning a wide variety of amplitudes and meridional extents. Calculations with a comprehensive GCM are compared against a simple diffusive energy balance model (EBM). The GCM response differs from the EBM in several important ways that illustrate linkages between atmospheric dynamics and radiative processes. Increased OHT produces global mean warming at a rate of 2 K PW−1 OHT across 30° and a strong reduction in meridional temperature gradient. The tropics remain nearly isothermal despite locally large imposed ocean heat uptake. The warmer climate features reduced equatorial convection, moister subtropics, reduced cloudiness, and partial but incomplete compensation in atmospheric heat transport. Many of these effects are linked to a weakened Hadley circulation. Both the warming pattern and hydrological changes differ strongly from those driven by CO2. Similar results are found at 0° and 23.45° obliquity. It is argued that clouds, rather than clear-sky radiative processes, are principally responsible for the global warming and tropical thermostat effects. Cloud changes produce warming in all cases, but the degree of warming depends strongly on the meridional extent of OHT. The strongest warming occurs in response to mid- to high-latitude OHT convergence, which produces widespread loss of boundary layer clouds. Temperature responses to increased OHT are quantitatively reproduced in the EBM by imposing GCM-derived cloud radiative effects as additional forcing.

scholarly journals Bjerknes Compensation in Meridional Heat Transport under Freshwater Forcing and the Role of Climate Feedback

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (14) ◽  
pp. 5167-5185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haijun Yang ◽  
Qin Wen ◽  
Jie Yao ◽  
Yuxing Wang
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Heat Transport ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Hadley Cell ◽  
Climate Feedback ◽  
Local Energy ◽  
Surface Temperature Change ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Freshwater Forcing ◽  
The Tropics

Using a coupled Earth climate model, freshwater forcing experiments are performed to study the Bjerknes compensation (BJC) between meridional atmosphere heat transport (AHT) and meridional ocean heat transport (OHT). Freshwater hosing in the North Atlantic weakens the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and thus reduces the northward OHT in the Atlantic significantly, leading to a cooling (warming) in the surface layer in the Northern (Southern) Hemisphere. This results in an enhanced Hadley cell and northward AHT. Meanwhile, the OHT in the Indo-Pacific is increased in response to the Hadley cell change, partially offsetting the reduced OHT in the Atlantic. Two compensations occur here: compensation between the AHT and the Atlantic OHT, and that between the Indo-Pacific OHT and the Atlantic OHT. The AHT change undercompensates the OHT change by about 60% in the extratropics, while the former overcompensates the latter by about 30% in the tropics due to the Indo-Pacific change. The BJC can be understood from the viewpoint of large-scale circulation change. However, the intrinsic mechanism of BJC is related to the climate feedback of the Earth system. The authors’ coupled model experiments confirm that the occurrence of BJC is an intrinsic requirement of local energy balance, and local climate feedback determines the extent of BJC, consistent with previous theoretical results. Even during the transient period of climate change, the BJC is well established when the ocean heat storage is slowly varying and its change is much weaker than the net local heat flux change at the ocean surface. The BJC can be deduced from the local climate feedback. Under the freshwater forcing, the overcompensation in the tropics is mainly caused by the positive longwave feedback related to clouds, and the undercompensation in the extratropics is due to the negative longwave feedback related to surface temperature change. Different dominant feedbacks determine different BJC scenarios in different regions, which are in essence constrained by local energy balance.

scholarly journals Response of the Energy Balance on the Margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet to Temperature Changes

1990 ◽  
Vol 36 (123) ◽  
pp. 217-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger J. Braithwaite ◽  
Ole B. Olesen
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Energy Balance ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Sensible Heat Flux ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Temperature Response ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Energy Balance Model ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Sensible Heat

AbstractDaily ice ablation on two outlet glaciers from the Greenland ice sheet, Nordbogletscher (1979–83) and Qamanârssûp sermia (1980–86), is related to air temperature by a linear regression equation. Analysis of this ablation-temperature equation with the help of a simple energy-balance model shows that sensible-heat flux has the greatest temperature response and accounts for about one-half of the temperature response of ablation. Net radiation accounts for about one-quarter of the temperature response of ablation, and latent-heat flux and errors account for the remainder. The temperature response of sensible-heat flux at QQamanârssûp sermia is greater than at Nordbogletscher mainly due to higher average wind speeds. The association of high winds with high temperatures during Föhn events further increases sensible-heat flux. The energy-balance model shows that ablation from a snow surface is only about half that from an ice surface at the same air temperature.

scholarly journals The HAMMONIA Chemistry Climate Model: Sensitivity of the Mesopause Region to the 11-Year Solar Cycle and CO2 Doubling

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (16) ◽  
pp. 3903-3931 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Schmidt ◽  
G. P. Brasseur ◽  
M. Charron ◽  
E. Manzini ◽  
M. A. Giorgetta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Solar Cycle ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Temperature Response ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Max Planck ◽  
Dynamical Processes ◽  
Mesopause Region ◽  
Height Range

Abstract This paper introduces the three-dimensional Hamburg Model of the Neutral and Ionized Atmosphere (HAMMONIA), which treats atmospheric dynamics, radiation, and chemistry interactively for the height range from the earth’s surface to the thermosphere (approximately 250 km). It is based on the latest version of the ECHAM atmospheric general circulation model of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, which is extended to include important radiative and dynamical processes of the upper atmosphere and is coupled to a chemistry module containing 48 compounds. The model is applied to study the effects of natural and anthropogenic climate forcing on the atmosphere, represented, on the one hand, by the 11-yr solar cycle and, on the other hand, by a doubling of the present-day concentration of carbon dioxide. The numerical experiments are analyzed with the focus on the effects on temperature and chemical composition in the mesopause region. Results include a temperature response to the solar cycle by 2 to 10 K in the mesopause region with the largest values occurring slightly above the summer mesopause. Ozone in the secondary maximum increases by up to 20% for solar maximum conditions. Changes in winds are in general small. In the case of a doubling of carbon dioxide the simulation indicates a cooling of the atmosphere everywhere above the tropopause but by the smallest values around the mesopause. It is shown that the temperature response up to the mesopause is strongly influenced by changes in dynamics. During Northern Hemisphere summer, dynamical processes alone would lead to an almost global warming of up to 3 K in the uppermost mesosphere.

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